In a valve timing control apparatus of a hydraulic type, hydraulic oil is supplied into corresponding hydraulic chambers formed in a housing to rotate a vane rotor relative to the housing to adjust valve timing of intake valves and/or valve timing of exhaust valves of an internal combustion engine. In a case of a valve timing control apparatus disclosed in JPH09-280019A, hydraulic oil is supplied to the corresponding hydraulic chambers through an oil passage change valve that is placed in a center portion of a vane rotor. Furthermore, in the valve timing control apparatus disclosed in JPH09-280019A, a relatively large space is formed in a middle of a supply oil passage of a camshaft or a vane rotor to extend in an axial direction, and a mesh filter, which is configured into a cylindrical tubular form, is detachably installed in this space.
Inventors of the present application have an opinion of that in a case where a check valve is placed in the supply oil passage to limit a reduction in a response speed in a rotational phase control operation, the filter needs to be placed on an upstream side of the check valve in the supply oil passage in order to avoid malfunction of the check valve. This filter is a filter that can capture minute foreign objects that cannot be captured with a cartridge filter installed in the internal combustion engine. In this case, the placement of the filter in the location disclosed in JPH09-280019A is effective.
However, in the valve timing control apparatus of JPH09-280019A, the relatively large space, which extends in the axial direction, needs to be formed in the camshaft or the vane rotor to place the mesh filter, which is configured into the cylindrical tubular form, into the relatively large space. Thereby, an axial size of the valve timing control apparatus is disadvantageously increased, so that an installation space, which receives the valve timing control apparatus in the internal combustion engine, is disadvantageously increased in the axial direction.